When you started your coaching practice, what were you expecting? Did you expect it to be easy? Did you expect to quickly have a great income from coaching? Did you think that clients would be falling all over themselves to beat a path to your door? So how’s it been going so far? If you are feeling frustrated, try adopting the playful attitude of a child approaching a new and exciting challenge. Try adopting the 3 keys to finding joy in your coaching practice.

Are Your Clients Friend Or Foe

Children generally approach strangers with inquisitiveness and positive expectations—anyone could be a new best friend. As a coach, you deal with new people in your coaching practice and business all the time. How do you approach them? Do you feel intimidated or apprehensive? How do you react to a forceful voice on the other end of the line? Adopt the attitude of a child and approach your potential clients or partners with interest and enthusiasm. Potential clients come to you because they need your help and you can help them best and enjoy it most if you assume a positive attitude right from the start.

Stay Curious

If you have ever been a child (!) you probably went through the “why” phase—you know, when you followed every answer to every question with another “why” until you drove your parents or teachers nuts. But it was fun, wasn’t it? And you learned a lot. Well, you don’t want to drive your clients nuts, but staying curious and asking open ended questions is definitely the way to keep you interested and to help your clients discover what they need to discover.

Don’t Be Afraid To Try Something New In Your Coaching Practice

Children are always exploring and trying new things. That’s how they learn and it’s also how they keep from being bored. Guess what–it works the same way for you as a coach. Keep trying new techniques and technologies. Take courses. Learn NLP or hypnosis. Get trained on how to interpret assessments. Don’t be afraid to practice something you just learned. If it doesn’t work you can always retreat to what’s familiar. But keep expanding your expertise and you will never find your coaching practice boring!

Give this strategy a try and see for yourself that it works. If you liked this coaching tip, leave a comment or use the handy bookmark buttons below to share it with others on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc. Thanks!

Dorine G Kramer
JTS Advisors Strategy and Accountability Coach